From John Laurens

[dateline] Paris April 28. 1781

[salute] Sir

I have the honor of transmitting to your Excellency copies of a { 294 } representation made to me by Commodore Gillon on the subject of the frigate South
Carolina—and a memorandum of articles settled and agreed upon between us.1 My motives for engaging in this business are That the excellence of the conveyance
enables me to transmit immediately a part of the Specie destined for the United States,
which would otherwise have been the object of a future and uncertain epoch. That the
greatest part of her present Cargo consists in articles which I am directed to forward
to America on Continental account. That She will have a considerable vacancy for an
additional Cargo of the same kind. That the said Cargo can be obtained immediately
in Holland—and That the arrival of a Ship of her force and peculiar good qualities
on the American Coast will be a very valuable acquisition. With respect to the State
of South Carolina, there is a prospect of considerable benefit to her, from having
her Ship at sea in condition to profit by cruising—and She will have her share in
the advantages that will result to the general interest, in common with the other
Members of the Union.

Mr. J. de Neufville has engaged to provide and ship the additional Cargo, on Continental
account, agreeable to an Invoice delivered him, by the 20th. of May on the most reasonable
terms. The confidence placed in him by Your Excellency was my only inducement for
accepting the offer of his services on this occasion.

It appeared to me adviseable both for the sake of authenticity—and in order that a
controul should be placed in the most respectable hands—to trouble your Excellency
with drawing the bills for the payment of the new purchases and the Cargo already
on board—the former to be made payable to Mr. Neufville & Co. at six months sight—and
not to be drawn until the whole of the supplies are embarked, and the proper invoices
and vouchers are delivered to Your Excellency. The latter to be made payable to Commodore
Gillon at six months sight, and to be drawn upon his application—the whole to be addressed
to our Minister plenipotentiary at this Court.

I expect to obtain two millions of livres to arrive in Holland in time to be transmitted
by the South Carolina. Two millions more will be sent in the frigate destined to reconduct
me, which I hope will sail in all the next month.2 Five millions will be procured at Vera-Cruz or the Havannah to be conveyed by a frigate
to be detached for that service from the french W. Indies. This is the distribution
of pecuniary succours for the present moment.3 The epochs are to be fixed as near as possible for farther transmissions. Captn.
Jackson, Aide de Camp to General Lincoln, An Officer of merit, intelligence, and { 295 } activity, has at my request and from zeal for the service undertaken the journey to
Holland in order to accelerate as much as possible the whole of this business. I entreat
your Excellency's advice to this Gentleman—and it is with the confidence inspired
by your distinguished public services that I sollicit your protection and assistance
as far as may be required, in a matter the success of which is so essential to the
interests of the United States.

I should have had the honor of introducing myself to Your Excellency and announcing
the objects of my mission by Mr. Dana, but unluckily for me he left Paris at a moment
when I was closely occupied at Versailles. I have much to regret that my short stay
in Europe will deprive me of an opportunity of cultivating a particular acquaintance
with your Excellency, whose public and private character have inspired me with so
much veneration. It will in some degree console me if your Excellency will render
me in any way useful to you in America—and favor me with your particular commands
for that Country.

I have the honor to be with the most profound respect Your Excellencys most obedient
and most humble servt.

1. Alexander Gillon's representation has not been found. The enclosed agreement, dated
28 April and in John Laurens' hand, documents Laurens' promise to purchase on Congress'
account £10,000 worth of goods from the cargo of the frigate South Carolina, thereby enabling Gillon to pay off his creditors and sail for the U.S. In return,
Gillon agreed to surrender the original invoices to Laurens' agent, provide the maximum
cargo space for Congress' goods by removing all nonessential items from the frigate,
load the ship expeditiously, and proceed directly to Philadelphia by the northern
route around Scotland, thereby avoiding British privateers lurking in the English
Channel. The agreement served the needs of both men, but it was never executed as
intended because of Gillon's actions as commander of the South Carolina, and the differing expectations of Laurens and Franklin regarding the funds available
for their use.

2. Laurens sailed from Brest on 1 June aboard the French frigate Résolue, in company with two transports: the Cibelle and Olimpe (Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev., 4:692). The Boston Continental Journal and Weekly Advertiser of 30 Aug. reported that the three vessels reached Boston on 25 August.

3. Congress charged Laurens to procure additional money and supplies for the war effort.
His efforts in this regard had decidedly mixed results visàvis the financial situation
of the U.S. in Europe (Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev., 4:317–321, 355–356, 364–366, 382–384, 391–392, 416–417, 467–468, 484–486). The French
government had already loaned the U.S. four million livres for 1781 and, responding
to appeals by Benjamin Franklin, granted an additional six million livres as a gift.
This money was to be used for military supplies, including those Laurens was to procure,
and to pay the bills of exchange Congress drew on its ministers abroad. Laurens judged
the ten million livres already provided to be insufficient and asked that additional
funds be raised in France by a loan guaran• { 296 } teed by the French government. Vergennes thought Laurens' demands excessive, and refused
to allow the U.S. to borrow in France where it would interfere with the government's
own efforts to finance the war. The two sides finally agreed that France would guarantee
a loan of ten million livres (five million florins) to be raised in the Netherlands,
but to Laurens' dismay, France refused to advance him the money before the loan was
completed. Moreover, the States General did not approve the project until 3 Dec. (from
Dumas, 3 Dec., Adams Papers), and the funds became available only in early 1782. Even then the loan yielded less
ready cash than anticipated because much of it went to replace the goods lost when
the Marquis de Lafayette was taken.

The loan's delay presented Laurens with a major problem because he wished to send
its proceeds, in the form of specie, to the U.S. As he indicates in this letter, two
million livres were to go in the Résolue, two million in the South Carolina, and an additional five million livres to be obtained from Cuba and Mexico. Spain
was to be reimbursed from the money raised in the Netherlands. When Spain refused
its assistance and the loan was delayed, Laurens turned to the six million livres
that Franklin had obtained. By doing so, however, Laurens precluded Franklin from
paying either Congress' bills of exchange or the cost of the supplies Laurens purchased
for transport to the U.S. on the South Carolina and other vessels. It is clear from Franklin's letter of 29 April, below, that he did not fully understand what Laurens was doing. When the consequences
of Laurens' actions became clear in late June, Franklin wrote to William Jackson on
28 June to inform him that he was stopping the specie that was intended to go by way
of the South Carolina. To do otherwise, he wrote, would be to risk “ruining all the credit of the States
in Europe, and even in America, by stopping payment” of bills of exchange (Wharton, ed., Dipl. Corr. Amer. Rev., 4:523). See also JA's letter to Franklin of 18 June and Franklin's letter to JA of the 30th, both below.